The Canonbury Papers Vol 5 The Knowledge Of The Heart »

This fifth volume of The Canonbury Papers contains the twelve papers delivered at the Eighth International Conference, held at the Canonbury Academy in November 2006, on Gnosticism and related movements Gnosticism, in its essence, is a heterodox form of Christianity that developed in the Second Century out of dualist schools of thought within the Church. These schools drew upon older and parallel religions of their day, and relied on revealed knowledge (gnosis) rather than on grace as the means of salvation. Although they did not survive the collapse of the Roman Empire, the Gnostics and their teaching became an integral part of the Western Hermetic Tradition. The Gnostic tradition has thus provided a continuing philosophical and religious influence on later spiritual and esoteric movements, including Freemasonry, and most notably during the last two centuries. In recognition of this influence the conference sought to bring together such distinguished speakers as Professor James Robinson – the world’s foremost authority on Gnosticism, Colin Wilson and Tobias Churton, together with prominent scholars from a variety of disciplines, creating a forum for new insights into the meaning and value of Gnosticism in both its classical and modern forms.

Acknowledgements     vi
Foreword     vii
Contributors     xi
Martinist Orders and Freemasonry in France since the time of Papus   Roger Dachez     1
A Brief Insight into Christian and Islamic Mystical Experience   Richard A. Crane     8
Is Freemasonry a Gnostic Tradition?   Tobias Churton     18
Spiritual Transformation in Ancient Hermetism and Gnosticism   Roelof Van den Broek     30
Gnosticism and the Dead Sea Scrolls   Philip Davies     44
The Search for Power Consciousness   Colin Wilson     56
Follies of the Wise: Two Centuries of the Western Vision of Gnosticism   Robert A. Gilbert     68
The Gospel of Judas   James M. Robinson     88
The Temple as Symbol of the Soul in Ancient Gnosticism   Madeleine Scopello     98
The Influence of the Corpus Hermeticum on Early Modern Occult Philosophy   Peter J. Forshaw     109
Gnostic/Sufi Symbols and Ideas in Turkish and Persian Freemasonry and Para-masonic Organisations   Thierry Zarcone     117
C.G. Jung: Gnostic or Kabbalist?   Leon P. Schlamm     132
Index     143